Silent Sweetheart: Chapter 21
A/N: So much hostility! I know that most of you are pissed off at Edward, and I also know some of you are siding with him and against Bella. So, let's see what happens next. PS- I also have a little surprise for you in the middle of this chapter! Yay!
BPOV:
We had brought Laney inside, and Esme and Carlisle immediately rushed over to her with open arms. After all the tears had been shed, Edward, Laney and I left the house. Edward called Alice and Jasper to explain the situation, and I overheard Jasper reassure Edward that he had everything up there under control.
Once we got to the house, Edward took Laney out of her seat and she immediately clung to my legs. Her father just sighed and walked towards the house and unlocked the front door.
The silence between Edward and me was smothering me, and the tension was tangible as we walked through the door. Laney let go of me ran up the stairs. Edward went to follow her, but he stopped and looked down at me when he noticed I wasn't following him.
"You're not coming?" He asked softly.
"No, I think I'll wait, but thanks for asking this time." I said as I tried to hold back the tears that were begging to fall from my eyes.
"Shit." He muttered and hurriedly walked down the stairs. "Bella, I didn't mean… I'm sorry."
"No, Edward, don't worry about it. You were worried about, Laney, I get it." I answered back.
"That didn't give me the right to yell at you. You were only trying to help, and I just… I'm sorry."
"You said that already."
"And I'll say it every day until the day I die if that what it takes for you to forgive me because Lord knows I really don't deserve it right now."
I shook my head. "If anyone should be apologizing, it's me. I should have understood that it was impossible for you to just stay put with Laney alone somewhere. You were worried, and I get that."
Edward shook his head. "No, this isn't your fault, Bella. Please don't think that this is your fault."
"What is this, Edward? God, I don't even know what we're fighting about anymore."
"We're not fighting." Edward insisted.
"Oh, then how else would you explain it?" I asked him.
"A creative discussion."
I rolled my eyes. "Are we seriously fighting over if we are fighting or not right now?" I asked him angrily.
Edward smiled crookedly. "I guess we are."
"Don't look at me like that. I'm still pissed."
He sighed. "Baby, I'm sorry. What else do you want me to say?"
"I don't know? Okay? I don't know what I want you to say. I'm not even sure if I want you to say anything." I admitted.
Edward didn't reply, and when I looked up at him, he smiled softly. Without even thinking about, I giggled and wiped my eyes. He opened his arms and I walked into them.
"What's really wrong here, bay? Something else is bothering you."
"I'm scared."
"Scared of what?" He asked and kissed the top of my head.
"I don't know what I'm doing. What if I mess up? What if you look ten years down the line and think that I was worst person in the world for this? Something might happen to make you realize that I'm not the person you want to be with."
"Shh. Calm down. Bella, I'm not going to be disappointed with you. Okay? As crazy as it may seem, I'm a first time parent, too. I'm not expecting you to be perfect because I'm not. I just want you to be your best for Laney. I know I was an ass earlier today, and I know that I'm walking contradiction." He laughed. "But I am willing to do whatever I have to do to keep here with me. So, I am begging you to just give me another chance."
"I said I was pissed and scared. I never said I was leaving. I don't think I could even if I wanted to, Edward. I love both of you too much." I admitted.
"It may be selfish to say, but I'm so happy to hear you say that." Edward said as he played absent mindlessly with a strand of my hair. He smiled crookedly and looked me in the eyes. "Is this the part where we kiss and make up?"
I giggled. "Yeah." I answered softly.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." I giggled again and pulled his head down to me. "I love you."
"I love you, too, baby." He said and kissed my lips.
When I pulled away from him, I was gasping for breath. Edward looked me with smiling eyes. "I really don't deserve you."
I shook my head. "No, honey, I think we're both pretty screwed up. But hey, why not just be screwed up together?"
Edward laughed and kissed me again. He pulled away and sighed, looking up at the floor above us.
I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Daddy. It's not that bad. Wait until the teenage years."
"You keep saying that, and I keep freaking out every time you do." Edward admitted as we walked up the stairs. He opened Laney's door and I saw her tiny body curled on her bed. She was lying on her stomach, clutching tightly to Teagan, her black Brave bear pillow pet. Biscuit was curled at her feet.
I followed Edward to the side of her bed and sat down on the bed as he knelt down on the side of it. Laney stirred and turned on her back. She opened her eyes and looked at me with her big green eyes. Slowly, she pulled herself into a sitting position and crawled into my lap.
"Am I in trouble?" Laney asked softly.
I kissed her temple and looked at Edward who shook his head. "No, but Laney, you can't ever do that again. What were you thinking? If you didn't want to leave, just tell me. Don't run away." Edward said softly.
"I'm sorry, Daddy."
"Lane Darlin, I know that you don't want to leave, but you're going to happy up there. I promise."
Laney nodded and cuddled her head further into my neck. "Lane, you don't have to be scared to leave. It's okay. You're dad and I will be with you and so will your Uncle Jasper and Aunt Alice. And we won't ever leave you." I whispered.
"Will we come back?" She asked softly.
"Of course we will. We'll visit as much as possible. And if we don't like it up there, we'll move back in a few months. But you will like it there, Lane, I promise." Edward assured her as he ran his hands through her silky blondish-bronze hair. "And of course Biscuit will come with us, too." He laughed.
Hearing her name, Biscuit perked up and wagged her tail before crawling her huge body towards us. She softly nudged Laney's little head with hers and then went to sit next to Edward.
"She is?" Laney asked.
"Of course, Lane. We can't just leave her." Edward answered.
Laney smiled. "Is the new house big?"
"We still don't know all of that yet, Laney. We'll still be here for another few months, though."
She nodded and climbed off of my lap to give Edward a hug. "I love you, Daddy."
"I love you, too, baby doll."
Third Person: (Laney and Edward thoughts)
Laney hated the thought of leaving the only place she had ever known. She hated that she had no choice in the issue, either. She was too little for that kind of stuff. Running away sort of just seemed like the best option at the time that she had. Never did she realize that her father would get so riled up and crazy. She truly was sorry for the hurt that she had caused him.
The young girl could remember a time when her father seemed almost always unhappy. He put on a good show, Laney knew that she loved him, but she was afraid that she would say something wrong and she would get him even more upset. Even if she was too small to ever know her birth mother, she had once found a picture of her on the floor of her father's closet one day. Just as quickly as she found the picture, Edward took it away. She always wondered who the happy, pretty blonde woman was, but she was too afraid to ask. She was too afraid to say anything.
That changed when Bella came. She was nice and pretty and smart. She made her father happy and that in return made Laney happy. Laney was no longer afraid to say something wrong. She was no longer afraid of upsetting her father.
Silence came naturally to the young girl. She truly didn't know exactly why she never talked. Perhaps it was fear, but perhaps it truly wasn't. Laney didn't mind remaining silent until she realized how happy it made her family to see her talk. It was that moment she realized that it was best if she kept talking, no matter what happened. Still, there were times when she would retreat into that old state of silence. It was calming, like an old friend. Even Bella couldn't change the silence that Laney loved.
"Lane Darlin', it's time to go to sleep." Her father whispered in her ear as they sat on the sofa watching another princess movie.
"I'm not tired." She yawned and leaned into Bella.
"Yes you are, my love." Bella laughed.
"Na huh."
"Mhmm." Bella countered yet again and softly tickled Laney's sides.
"Come on, you." Edward laughed and picked his tiny daughter up before walking upstairs to her room. He laid her down on her bed after getting her into her pajamas and turned off the light. He kissed her forehead and stood up to walk out.
"Daddy?"
Edward stopped and turned to look at his only child. He noticed something different about her. She seemed more grown up than three. All of a sudden, he could see her going to elementary school, junior high, and then high school. He could see her bringing some punk home and then coming home the next day with tears streaming down her face. He could see her in a white dress waiting nervously for the church doors to open. The sights that played in his mind scared the hell out of him, and that was when he realized Bella was wrong.
Laney's teenaged years were by no means going to be the worst part of her childhood. No, the worst part will be the last day of her childhood when he has to let her go.
"What is it, Lane Darlin'?" He asked her softly.
"Tell Momma goodnight."
Edward smiled and nodded. "Okay, Baby Doll. I love you."
"Love you, Da." She yawned and curled onto her side.
Edward walked out of the room and into his bedroom where he could hear Bella taking a shower. He sighed and pulled off his shirt and jeans before slipping on some pajama pants. He got into bed and pulled out an old Chevy magazine, but there was no way he could concentrate. He thought about Laney leaving all the time, but the day's events had just made it all the more real.
Bella walked into the room then and sat down next to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and curled into his side, softly kissing his right bicep.
"Do you think that I could get away with keeping Laney locked her room until she's thirty-five?" Edward asked randomly.
BPOV:
"What?" I laughed as I tried to figure out the reasoning behind such a random question.
"You heard me. I really don't think that Laney will be the marrying type anyway, so wouldn't it just be reasonable to keep her locked here until then?" Edward asked me.
"Edward, no matter what Laney does or who she marries, she will always be your little girl. And you will always be the first man who ever loved her with everything he has."
"So that would be a…" Edward trailed off.
"No!"
My handsome boyfriend groaned.
"Edward, the more protective you are of her, the more she will act out. There will always come a time when she has a problem that only her father can fix. That's one thing that will never ever change. Like I said two seconds ago, she is and always will be your little girl."
"But, she's my only little girl." He whined.
I laughed. "Don't you want grandchildren, Edward?" I asked him.
"We'll have sons."
"That's not exactly something you're able to plan, honey." I explained. "I mean, what are you going to do if I get pregnant and we only have girls?"
"Lock them all in their rooms until their thirty-five." He answered seriously.
"That won't work, Edward. I'm telling you, as she gets older, you'll be able to eventually let her leave. I mean, it isn't like you'll never see her again after she gets married. Besides, she's only three. You have a good twenty more years to even start thinking about that sort of thing. Edward." I promised.
"I guess you're right." He sighed and tossed his magazine on the bedside table.
"Of course I'm right. I'm always right." I bragged and gave him a kiss. "Goodnight, Edward."
"Night… oh, and Laney says goodnight as well." He smirked.
I smiled and lay down on the bed. Edward wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my shoulder.
We stayed like that in silence for a few minutes. In fact, I thought Edward been asleep until I heard him softly whisper to me.
"Bella?"
"Hmm?"
"You didn't mind that Laney called you Mom, did you?" He asked softly.
I smiled. "No, not at all." I answered and looked at him, his green eyes still shining in the dark bedroom. "Do you?"
He shook his head with his crooked grin. "No, not at all."
I laughed and softly kissed his lips. That was when I realized that Edward was definitely not even close to wanting to go to sleep.
So, this chapter was sort of short, I'm sorry about that. I am also so sorry about the wait for the update, but my computer had a virus. And I know some of you can feel it coming since all the drama is finally dwindling down and you're right. The end is near, and if I am being completely honest, that sort of depresses me. I am anticipating about another three to five chapters. I am not quite sure yet. Anyway, I would just like to say that this story has become my baby and y'all's support has made spending my time writing all worth it. I have been considering a sequel that shows Laney in her like teen years, so please leave a review and tell me how you would feel about that as well as how you felt about this last chapter.
-Layn